Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why You’re Tired After Work, Air Travel Question Answers, and a Quadrillion Tons of Diamonds

Shark Week’s Luke Tipple tackles the question “How can I work with sharks?” alongside two experts in the field – and their answers are not always the obvious ones. Luke is joined first by Kelly Link, Associate Curator of the Georgia Aquarium who talks about what it’s like to be an aquarist, how it differs from field work, and how to get yourself noticed. The second guest is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag who goes into detail on what it takes to become a prominent scientist, and what other paths you can take if a PhD isn’t for you. And at the end, researcher Sierra stops by to tell us about the world’s smallest shark.

Host Luke Tipple welcomes two guests to discuss how researchers can kill sharks in the name of science – and whether they need to at all. The first is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, shark researcher and founder of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, and an expert on data-gathering in the field. He’s followed by explorer Fred Buyle, a world-record-breaking freediver whose innovative methods of shark tagging are explored. Plus, our researcher Sierra tells us about how a 50-year study changed our understanding of tiger sharks – and much of the work wasn’t even done by scientists.

Shark Week’s Luke Tipple welcomes professional photographer Mike Coots, who lost his leg to a tiger shark attack when he was only 18. But after his horrific injury, he came to love sharks, and became a lifelong advocate for their safety. Luke and Mike discuss his career, his love for photographing sharks, and how to positively approach the big life-changing moments that can happen to any of us.

Learn how often people misremember alibis; new lessons from Denisova Cave; and how to remove pesticides from produce.

Learn about the time pirates stopped the US from switching to the metric system; and new learnings about Mars’ interior.

Learn about a key trait in group leaders; why DNA evidence is overrated; and a brainless slime mold that can “think.”

Learn about common ancestors shared by every human; evolution’s multiple directions; and universal facial expressions.

Learn how to turn the table on addictive apps; and how black holes can make us see multiple versions of the same thing.

Learn about why we need memorials for medicine; NASA’s Phantom Torso experiment; and why we often overestimate outliers.

Learn about the earliest use of infinity we’ve found; and vampire-like sea slugs that absorb other organisms’ attributes.